Malgorzata (Maggie) A. Witek

Dr. Malgorzata A. Witek
  • Associate Research Professor

Contact Info

Office phone:
785-864-4898
2186 GL (ISB)
Lawrence
1567 Irving Hill Road
Lawrence, KS 66045

Education —

Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry, Michigan State University, 2002, East Lansing, MI
M.S. in Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Silesian University of Technology, 1997, Gliwice, Poland

Research —

Maggie Witek works on developing new strategies for isolating liquid biopsy markers found in biological fluids (i.e., blood, plasma, saliva, urine) of patients diagnosed with different diseases (i.e., blood and epithelial cancers, stroke, cystic fibrosis). Her work is leading to development of new technologies and methods for isolating biomarkers such as circulating tumor cells, exosomes, and cell-free DNA, and downstream analysis of the molecular cargo originating from these biomarkers. Maggie is conducting seminal work in Precision Medicine which provides more accurate information related to new treatment ideas and focuses on tailored treatment regimens for individual patients. When it comes to treatment of these diseases: one size does not fit all!

Maggie performs her work in the NIH/NIBIB funded Center of BioModular Multiscale Systems for Precision Medicine (CBMM) as an investigator, coordinator of the Center’s collaborative and service projects, and a leader of the training and dissemination activities (https://cbmm.ku.edu, @CBM2Medicine  on Twitter and Facebook).

 

Teaching —

Instructor for the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory and Lecture (CHEM 401).

Instructor for the Instrumental Analysis Laboratory (CHEM 636).

Research Mentor - KU’s Emerging Scholars Program (2017 - date).

Selected Publications —

  • T.N. Pahattuge, I. M. Freed, M. L. Hupert, S. Vaidyanathan, K. Childers, M. A. Witek, K. Weerakoon-Ratnayake, D. Park, A. Kasi, M. F Al-Kasspooles, M.C. Murphy, and S A. Soper, System Modularity Chip for Analysis of Rare Targets (SMART-Chip): Liquid Biopsy Samples. ACS Sens.2021 May 28; 6(5): 1831–1839.
  • Witek, M. A., Freed, I. M., Soper, S.A, Cell Separation and Sorting, Anal. Chem. 2020, 92, 1, 105-131.
  • Weerakoon-Ratnayake, K.M. Vaidyanathan, S. Larkey, N., Dathathreya, K., Hu, M, Jose, J., Mog, S., August, K., Godwin, A.K., Hupert, M.L. *, Witek, M.A.*, Soper, S.A. *Microfluidic Device for On-Chip Immunophenotyping and Cytogenetic Analysis of Rare Biological Cells, Cells 2020, 9, 2, 519
  • Campos CDM, Jackson J.M., Soper S.A., Witek M.A.* Molecular Profiling of Liquid Biopsy Samples for Precision Medicine. Cancer J. 2018, 24(2):93–103.
  • Witek, M. A., Aufforth, R. D., Wang, H., Kamande, J., Jackson, J. M., Soper, S. A., Discrete microfluidics for the isolation of circulating tumor cell subpopulations targeting fibroblast activation protein alpha and epithelial cell adhesion molecule. Nature Precision Oncology 1, 24, 2017.
  • Jackson, J. M., Witek, M. A., Kamande, J.W., Soper, S. A. Materials and microfluidics: enabling the efficient isolation and analysis of circulating tumour cells. Chem. Soc. Rev., 2017,46, 4245-4280.
  • Witek, M. A., Koppang, M. D., Swain, G. M., “Aliphatic Polyamine Oxidation Reaction Mechanism at Boron-doped Microcrystalline and Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Electrodes.”Electroanalysis, 2015, 10.1002/elan.201500563.
  • Nair, S. V.*; Witek, M. A.*; Jackson, J. M.; Lindell, M. A.; Hunsucker, S. A.; Sapp, T.; Perry, C. E.; Hupert, M. L.; Bae-Jump, V.; Gehrig, P. A.; Soper, S. A. “Enzymatic cleavage of uracil-containingsingle-stranded DNA linkers for the efficient release of affinity-selected circulating tumor cells”.Chemical Communications, 2015, 51, 3266.
  • Jackson, J. M.*, Witek, M. A*., Hupert, M. L., Brady, C., Pullagurla, S., Kamande, J., Aufforth, R. D., Tignanelli, C. J., Torphy, R. J., Yeh, J. J., and Soper, S. A. "UV activation of polymeric high aspect ratio microstructures: ramifications in antibody surface loading for circulating tumor cell selection". Lab on a Chip, 2014, 14,106-117.
  • Witek, M. A.; Hupert, M.; Park, D. S.; Fears, K.; Murphy, M. C.; Soper, S. A. "96-Well Polycarbonate-Based Microfluidic Titer Plate for High-Throughput Purification of DNA and RNA". Analytical Chemistry 2008, 80(9), 3483.
  • Witek, M. A.; Wei, S.; Vaidya, B.; Adams, A. A.; Zhu, L.; Stryjewski, W.; McCarley, R. L. and Soper, S. A. "Cell Transport via Electromigration in Polymer-Based Microfluidic Devices". Lab on a Chip,2004, 4, 464-472.

 

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PK7WNVgAAAAJ&hl=en

Awards & Honors —

Steven F. Warren Research Achievement Award, KU 2021

The Women in Microfluidics & BioMEMS List (microfluidics.berkeley.edu), 2019

Councilor for the ACS Wakarusa Valley Local Section, 2019